Bad Blood
by TotallyRandomGirl
Summary: A sequel to The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions. T for language and violence.
1. Those Days are Gone

Hello everyone, and welcome to "Bad Blood;" a sequel to my story "The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions." So if you haven't read that story yet, please do. Otherwise this won't make any sense to you at all. Seriously, stop reading this and go read the other first. Cause if you don't there are serious spoilers here and nobody likes spoilers, right?

For those of you who _have_ read The Road to Hell, I'm sure you know I left the story on a cliff hanger and gave you, the readers, the option to decide how you wanted the story to end. However, the story did have a true ending in my mind and I decided to write it out. Once I got it all finished I decided to share it. Thus, you have this short story. It's told from Tawny's point of view this time. I hope any questions you had are answered and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

His eyes were burrowing into mine, cold despite the smile on his face and everything I had learned to distrust when dealing with the undead. They were somehow bluer than they'd ever been and piercing through me as though they could see every ounce of weakness that I had always had for them. Those eyes...

There was a bottle in his hand, decorated in a garish fashion as though it was some sort of ceremonial trinket and I had an inkling of what it contained before I could even catch a whiff. There was a part of me still clinging to my naïvety, however, and I wanted to believe that he wouldn't do that to me. Not after all we'd been through. Surely he wouldn't. He was still my friend, my David. He was still the boy that had protected me and looked after me and that was something that would never change.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

"What is it?" I asked, stepping further back into the cavern. There were only five feet between us, close enough that he could have rushed me if he wanted, but he didn't, further lulling me into a sense of comfort and trust.

"It's wine." He lied, smile never faltering. Not even for a second. He moved away from me then, digging through an antique cedar chest in search of the two wine glasses he produced. He handed one to me and I accepted it hesitantly. I had become smart enough to know that nobody should ever drink anything a vampire offers them, but I wanted to believe he was still the old David from all those years before. I looked into those eyes and I saw the good and caring boy that was truly no longer there and I trusted him.

He poured from the bottle into my glass and then poured into his own. The bottle was quickly discarded, almost as though it was trash and then he raised his glass high in my direction. "A toast?" I asked. "To what?"

"To Marko, Paul and Dwayne." David replied. "May their deaths not be in vain."

"To Marko." I said with a nod, raising my own glass. I had no issue with drinking to honor my old friend. Paul and Dwayne, however, I could never honor. I had blamed them for David's corruption, unaware at the time that David had done what he had done to himself and that nobody else was to blame. I brought the glass to my lips and I could feel his gaze burning through me. His intensity was palpable and I had to turn my eyes downward to avoid his stare. I sipped the contents of my glass slowly, surprised at how sweet the fluid was. It was certainly not wine but I swallowed it anyway.

David's smile spread further across his face as he too sipped and then raised his glass once more. "And a toast to us. Long may we live."

And I raised my glass to toast to this declaration of his, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach but I had no idea why. I took another sip, another and another until the glass was empty. I watched him as he watched me, his eyes never leaving mine, not even for an instant. My hand shot out and I passed the wine glass back into his hands. "I should be going, David. Thank you for the wine."

"Thank you for drinking with me." His reply came as he sat the glasses aside and stepped closer to me. "You know you don't have to leave, Tawny."

I didn't want to leave. Really, I didn't. I'd always wanted to stay with David but I was constantly at war with myself. Despite that he wasn't the one to kill my mother, he had lured us in and he had left her vulnerable and alone with the monster who did. He knew Max was dangerous and he gave my mother to him anyway. It was something I found hard to forgive. But on the other side of the coin, if it hadn't been for David, Max would have killed me too. David saved me and for that, I would always be grateful. That boy, that part of him that protected me was all I wanted him to be and a part of me still believed that boy was in there. That part of me wanted to stay but the rational part of me was stronger.

"David, you know I can't." I said with a shake of my head. "It's not like when we were kids. We're not sitting on the couch eating cereal and watching MTV anymore."

"So I'll get a TV down here and find a way to run electricity and cable." He responded with a laugh and a shrug as though it would fix everything; all the bad blood. I knew it wouldn't.

"It's not that simple, David." I said with a shake of my head. "I'm sorry. I'm leaving." I turned away from him and started out of the cavern once more but I could hear his footsteps behind me before he voiced the question I somehow knew was coming.

"Where will you go?" He asked. There was a hint of concern in his voice but to this day, I have no idea if it was genuine or not.

I paused but I didn't look back at him. I knew very well where I was going to go but that was not information David needed. I shrugged and smiled to myself before continuing my trek out of the cavern. "Don't worry about me. I'll be around."


	2. The Thing About Trust

So, I decided to post a second chapter tonight because HEY! It's my birthday!

Speaking of birthdays... OMG, you guys. I spent $950 on an autographed Lost Boys movie poster I happened to stumble upon in Vegas as my birthday gift to me. $950! Am I insane!? It _is_ signed by the whole cast though, so there's that (including Corey Haim who is sadly no longer with us.) But still. That is a lot of fucking money. I mean, holy shit. Somebody tell me you would've done the same!

I'll just be over here crying about how broke I am now... Anyhow, on with the story! Enjoy!

* * *

I stepped into Max's house cautiously. I'd had a run in with his dog in the past and it was an occurrence I preferred to forgo a second time. The place seemed empty, however. There were dishes in the sink with food dried onto them. They hadn't been there long though, because the kitchen didn't smell of rotten food. I continued through the house and noticed that it hadn't been redecorated since my last visit. Max's penchant for flashy interior design brought a snicker to my mouth. A centuries old vampire trying desperately to fit in with modern times; it seemed comical now. David's bedroom had been untouched, literally. Everything was exactly as I remembered it from the night I crawled out his window to get away from Max, only it was all a lot more dusty.

I was exhausted and I flopped onto David's old bed. A cloud of dust floated into the air but I was too tired to care about it at that moment. The sun would be coming up soon and my sleep schedule was still adjusted to that of a creature of the night. I yawned and covered myself with the worn out old sheet but before I could slip into sleep, I heard the front door creek open slowly. My tired eyes popped open and I stood silently, reaching into my jacket for the wooden stake I had brought with me in case my meeting with David went sour.

I slipped out of the bedroom and peered around the corner to see the living room full of unfamiliar faces. There were four young boys, a teenage boy, a teenage girl, an older woman and an even older man and they appeared to be looking for something. It was only a matter of time before they found me so I decided to step forward and deal with them outright. "Who are you?"

"We could ask the same to you!" One of the young boys said in an exaggerated voice, trying his hardest to seem tough like Rambo, which is who he reminded me of.

"I'm a person, same as you." I answered. "And if you're looking for Max, he's dead."

"How do you know that?" The teenage boy asked with a skeptical look. "Are you one of them?"

I had suspected from the beginning that they knew the truth about Max. That was the only explanation as to why a group like them would be sneaking into the house of a millionaire in the early morning hours. They knew he was a vampire and they were prepared to deal with the worst. I shook my head and displayed my stake to them. "I'm a vampire hunter." I replied. "My name is Tawny."

"Tawny?" The teenage girl said almost as though she was in shock. She stepped closer to me and looked me over in disbelief. "David's Tawny?"

I was taken aback by her words. _David's_ _Tawny_? It was almost insulting, as though I was a piece of property. Then again, David always saw me that way. It wasn't his fault. I blamed Max. "I know David." I replied. "But I'm not _his_."

"You mean you knew him." One of the other young boys said quickly; the one who looked like he was an extra on Miami Vice. "That blood sucker is toast now."

But he wasn't. I knew that. I'd just seen David only an hour earlier and he was alive and well. "Are you the ones that killed him? And Max?"

"And the others." The other Rambo looking boy added, running his hand through his thick, dark hair. "Every one of them is dead and gone."

"We can't be too sure." The teenage boy said with a scowl. "David's body isn't where we left it. He could be hiding out, laying in wait."

"W-well that's common, you know." I interjected quickly. "Vampire bodies are completely obliterated in one way or another when you kill them. They're here one minute and gone the next."

"That's true." The teenage girl added with a nod. "You said Dwayne exploded but there was nothing left but ash after a while. Maybe that's what happened to David."

"I'd still like to head back to his little hide out and double check." The teenage boy said, turning to the girl with a furious look on his face. "After what he put us through, I want to make sure he's good and dead."

"I was just there." I said, hoping to deter them from returning to the cavern. I don't know why I was so eager to protect David. After all, whatever mess he'd gotten himself into, it was his own doing and he probably deserved every bit of what they had in store for him. Still, I was willing to protect him like he had protected me. "I didn't see any sign of him. Nothing at all. If you say you killed him, he must be gone."

"And that doesn't make you upset at all?" The girl said to me curiously. "David and Marko always spoke about you like you were their friend."

"We were friends at one time." I replied with a shrug, trying my hardest to seem unaffected either way by David's supposed death. "But a vampire killed my mother so as far as I'm concerned, the only good vampire is a dead one."

"Do you know if there was anyone else?" The older woman asked me, finally speaking up from her confused silence. "Aside from Max and the boys who were killed the other night?"

"There's no one." I answered plainly. "Max, David, Marko, Dwayne and Paul. They were the only ones in that family. There used to be others but they're dead now."

"So that whole vein is gone." The elderly man muttered. "Good and good riddance."

"We should get going back to the house." The woman said, turning to smile weakly at the others. "We've got a lot of cleaning up to do still." She turned her gaze to me then and a look of concern came over her face. "Tawny, sweetheart, do you have a place to stay?"

"Here, I guess." I replied with a shrug. I could tell that this woman, whoever she was, she had been a target for Max's Matriarch. Her genuine nature and gentle demeanor showed that she was the motherly sort and she was exactly the kind of woman Max would have gone after. I was glad for her sake that she was spared the same fate as my mother, though I couldn't help but resent her for it a bit as well. "At least for a while until I can head back to Oregon. There's nothing for me here anymore."

"Well, you take care." She replied back, leading the young boys from the house with the old man following close behind.

I was left standing in the living room with the two teenagers and the boy seemed eager to leave but the girl was looking at me with a sad expression. "I'm so sorry about David." She said, her voice barely a whisper. "I know things may have changed, but at one time, you two were very close. He and Marko used to talk about you all the time; about what it would be like if you were still around, if you were one of them. And they talked about the old times too. Before they were vampires when it was just the three of you and you were all best friends. I wish I could have known them back then."

"Yes, well... they were certainly different people then." I replied stiffly, not certain how I felt knowing that David and Marko spoke of me regularly. It should have made me happy and in a small way it did. It also made me uneasy. I crossed my arms over my chest, always guarded as I took a step back from the two staring at me. "Anyway, you did what you had to do. I don't have any hard feelings so you shouldn't apologize. Like I said, I'm a vampire hunter. To me, the only good vampire is a dead one."

I watched them then as the boy grabbed hold of the girl's hand and pulled her back toward the front door. Her eyes were glued to mine and the look on her face showed that she had more to say but she didn't say anything at all. They closed the door behind them and I let out a heavy sigh. The sun was likely rising outside and I knew if I didn't fall asleep before it got too bright in the house, I'd never be able to fall asleep. I let my head fall to my hands as I attempted to rub away the stress of the past few days.

"I thought they'd never leave." A voice came from behind me and despite the familiarity of it, I let out a terrified yelp. I whirled around to see David leaning against the wall, a half smile on his face as he glanced from me to the front door.

Instinctively, I reached out to hit him on the arm. "David, you prick! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry." Was all he said in reply, that same stupid smirk still planted on his face, rooted there as though it was permanent.

"Who were those people!?" I asked harshly, angry at being startled and frustrated at knowing David had likely been watching the whole conversation unfold. "And why do they think you're dead?"

"I got impaled on antlers of some sort." David said with a shrug as though the statement carried no weight at all. "It really did a number on me for a minute but I recovered and got the hell out of dodge while nobody was looking. As for who they are, they're unimportant. Don't worry, they shouldn't be back here anymore."

"That girl knew an awful lot about you and Marko." I said, not buying at all that they were as unimportant as David let on. "Who is she?"

"She's just some girl." David said, brushing off the conversation as he plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. I watched him in interest as he flipped through channels with the remote control before finally stopping on MTV. "Hey! What do you know, it's the same channel!" He turned his gaze to me and patted the spot on the couch beside him. "Have a seat, Tawn."

I stepped further into the living room and looked down at David in disbelief. It was way too strange, too surreal. I felt dizzy as though I would vomit at any second and as much as I didn't want to, I had to sit down. I took a seat beside David on the couch and turned my eyes ahead to the television where a Cyndi Lauper music video was playing. I caught myself glancing at David every so often, trying desperately to grasp whether or not what was occurring in that moment was actually happening at all. We were there in Max's house like we had always been, watching MTV like we always did. It wasn't right and then somehow, it was all that was right. I let myself relax against the cushions of the couch. My tired eyes couldn't handle much more and they began to slip slowly shut. The last thing I remembered hearing was David saying "We should stay here," before the lyrics to _Time After Time_ drowned out whatever he said afterward and sleep eventually took me.

When I woke up, the room was dark, save for the images on the television flashing against the walls and my face. MTV was still on and now an Aerosmith music video was playing. My stomach was gurgling in hunger which made sense to me at the time. After all, I hadn't eaten much on my way back to Santa Carla and I hadn't eaten at all once I had arrived. I could hear someone in the kitchen banging things around and it occurred to me that it must be David. I stood and walked slowly, stumbling through the darkness and into the kitchen where David was setting out plates on the counter. "What are you doing?" I mumbled, still groggy from my sleep and a little disoriented from my crippling hunger.

"Hey, sleepy head." David's response came as he glanced at me. "Can you believe Max had all this food here? Of course, his cupboards were always well stocked. I guess he liked to eat regular food just as much as the rest of us."

My brow furrowed as I watched David place the food on the plates. It looked like he had baked some salmon and there were carrots, mashed potatoes and broccoli on the side. I was getting that strange feeling again, that it was all just some crazy dream and it couldn't possibly be real. "David, what the hell-"

"You're hungry, right? I mean, you haven't eaten at all today. I know you're hungry." He replied as he bypassed me with the plates into the dining room. I followed him and watched as he sat the plates down on the table where there appeared to be two glasses of wine as well.

I was even more confused at that point. I didn't know what to say so I stayed silent and let my body move on auto-pilot. I took a seat at the table and stared down at the food but despite how hungry I was, none of it looked appetizing. David had disappeared into the kitchen again but he returned only a moment later with knives and forks in hand. He passed the utensils to me before taking a seat and looking at me expectantly.

"Try the food." He said, almost demanding as he forked a piece of broccoli and brought it to his lips. "I worked hard."

I looked from him to the food and back again, my mind still too fuzzy to make sense of what was going on. "David... is this really happening right now?"

"Of course it's happening." David replied with a smile. He grabbed the wine glass in front of me and handed it into my hands. "Drink up. You'll feel better."

I stared at the glass and its contents curiously. This was the second time David was offering me wine and expecting me to drink it. I turned my skeptical gaze to him before looking back at the glass. "Since when did you become a wine drinker?"

"Come on! This is the good stuff." He said, shrugging as he lifted the glass closer to my face. "Drink it. I promise you'll feel a hundred percent better."

I looked to him once more, his smile never faltering but I knew something wasn't right. I brought the glass to my lips and sipped slowly and as soon as the fluid touched my tongue, I knew what it was. It was sweet, much like what David had given me to drink the previous night and I realized then that the so called wine he had given me before was not wine at all. It was blood. _His_ blood.

I was overwhelmed with anger as soon as the realization hit me and I threw the glass in my hand against the wall, the blood inside it splattering everywhere. "Damn it! Damn it, David! What did you do!?"

"I did what I had to do." David responded, looking up at me with an innocent stare, though I knew he was anything but innocent. "Tawny, I was losing everything. I couldn't lose you too. Not again. It was a last minute decision and I panicked. But you don't need to be so upset. With Max and the others gone we can-"

"We can _what_, David!?" I shrieked, standing up so swiftly I knocked the chair I had been sitting in backwards. It fell to the ground with a deafening clatter and David reached out for me but I pulled away quickly. "Don't! Don't you dare touch me!"

"Tawny, sit down and let's talk about this like rational adults." David said, way too calmly for my liking.

"Rational!? You want me to be rational!?" I shouted. Involuntary tears were rushing to my eyes as I looked to him furiously. "David, I've spent the last two years in a virtual hell trying to fight every instinct I had to just feed. I was finally free and you pulled me back in! You bastard!"

David was on me in an instant, his hands gripping my shoulders as I began to grow to hysterics. My breath was shallow and quick. I was hyperventilating. "Tawny, relax." He said softly, though it did little to comfort me. "You have me. I'll take care of you. You don't have to kill unless you want to and I-"

"No!" I said, pulling free from David's grasp. "This was not your decision to make! I trusted you! I trusted you, David, and you betrayed my trust. You idiot... it's the biggest fucking mistake you could have ever made!"

David looked to me then, the expression on his face shifting to a look of genuine concern. "Tawny, this is a good thing. Trust me. It isn't a mistake."

"Oh, it is." I retorted quickly, glaring up at him. "All I want is to be human, David. Now there's only one way for me to do that. By killing you."


	3. Don't Look Back, You Can Never Look Back

Let's just jump into chapter three! Very little dialogue in this chapter. Aaaaand we're half way through the story now... Enjoy!

* * *

I didn't want to kill David and I wasn't going to and I think he knew that. Still, I couldn't just let him have his way. I left Max's house that night determined that I would never look back.

Unfortunately, never looking back is easier said than done.

I returned to Oregon where I had been staying with my grandparents and I tried to carry on with life like I had for the past two years. I tried to push David and Santa Carla out of my mind but that was literally impossible.

My sleep was plagued by dreams of David as it had been since Max first turned me. This was because, I would later find out, I was an all-seer. As a halfling, I had no control over the powers so everything came to me in flashes, mostly in the form of dreams. The dreams would often be things that had already occurred and it took me a really long time to realize that they were real.

In the meantime, I watched almost daily as David went about his existence. He spent his time moving back and forth between Max's house and the cavern as though he couldn't decide which place to call home. He spent a lot of time on the streets preying on the unsuspecting but he seemed dissatisfied with every kill that my dreams showed me. He seemed discontent.

And that was how David had always been. He was never someone who could be alone for long periods of time. As a human, David had been the type of person to thrive in the company of others even if it was only one person, as long as it was _someone_. But he had no one now and life as a vampire certainly felt more lonely than life as a human, even if you did have someone. That I could personally attest to.

I felt bad for him, guilty even. I had to stop feeling that way. David had made his own bed and now he had to lie in it.

I did everything in my power to avoid my concern for him and that meant just going about my life as usual. Technically speaking, I was twenty-one years old and so I had gotten a job as a bartender. It was the only job I could do at night that didn't require any schooling on my part. I had begun to accept that I would probably be living out the rest of my existence as a halfling, never aging until I just died of natural causes or however it was supposed to work. One night, however, everything changed.

It was two in the morning and the patrons of the bar were flooding out the doors. I was left with my boss, totaling the alcohol sales and splitting up the tips. It was a nightly routine and it usually only took us an hour every time. Afterward, my boss usually offered to give me a ride home and I would accept it because anything was better than being out on the streets at three in the morning. That particular night, however, I had to decline. My stash of blood had gotten low and I was in desperate need of more. I knew I would have to stock back up.

I had a deal with a homeless man that lived in the park near my grandparent's house. He would bleed himself a little bit every day and store it away for me. It wasn't the freshest or cleanest option but I did what I had to do to get by.

The park was only a short walk from the bar so I took to the streets and made my way in a hurry to the bench where the man always slept. He wasn't there when I arrived though and I realized that I was going to have to seek out another alternative. I was so hungry. _Starving._

I started in disappointment and frustration back toward home but I didn't make it far. I was grabbed from behind by a man probably twice my size and he held a knife to my throat.

"Don't struggle, girl." He rasped out against my face, the smell of booze thick on his breath. He pulled me closer against him and started to drag me toward the bushes.

I was terrified. I knew what he wanted from me almost instantly. I recognized his voice. He was a usual at the bar; a real pig of a man that would always try to ask me out on dates and then get really irate when I turned him down. He was going to rape me. Well, he was going to try, anyway, but there was no way I was going to let it happen.

As soon as he had me behind the bushes, he threw me to the ground and began to unbuckle his belt. That was the first time in my life that I was grateful for vampirism. Being a halfling, I was stronger than ordinary humans and this man was no exception. While he fumbled drunkenly with his belt, I swept his legs out from under him and he fell to the ground. I tried to scurry to my feet, determined that I would get out of the situation without anyone getting hurt but he had other plans.

He grabbed my ankles and yanked me back, kneeling over me with the knife poised at my throat again but my hands were around his wrist, wrestling for control over the knife. I could feel the bones in his wrist cracking under my grip and he was grunting in pain but he didn't relent. Still, I was stronger than him and I was able to force him backward, wrenching the knife from his hand as I did so. Now brandishing the knife, I swung it widely in his direction to ward him off.

He continued after me, trying to get the knife back. I swung again and this time I slashed him across the palm of his hand. Blood began to pour profusely from the wound I'd created and in that moment I lost myself. The scent reached my nostrils and it took all I had to take a step back from him. "Please, I don't want to hurt you."

But he took a step forward, ignoring my warning. He reached for me and I saw the blood trickling down his elbow and it was over in an instant.

I had to commend David. When I thought back on the moment he told me was a vampire, I realized it must have taken him a lot of restraint when I grabbed a kitchen knife and sliced my hand open, urging him to drink just to prove his words were true and he didn't. And even later that night, when he needed to use my blood to make it seem like he had bitten me to turn me, he never lost himself being that close to my blood.

I was not as strong. I thought I could be but I couldn't.

There was very little left recognizable of my assailant when I was finished. His flesh had been stripped from his bones and his face was a mangled mess. To be honest, I don't remember most of the feeding. I blacked out and instinct took over. A small part of me felt bad for chastising David as much as I had. As I stood over the corpse of my attacker heaving for breath and trying to wipe away the blood I was covered in, I realized how easy it was to slip up. Vampirism just came by instinct. It was, more or less, unavoidable.

After that night I tried to go back to the way I had been living but it was a lot harder. I was a full fledged vampire now and there was no coming back from that.

I relied more heavily on blood than I had previously and it was hard to get enough. I found myself draining the blood from raw meat my grandparents bought and bribing even more homeless people to drain themselves of blood with the promise of food and as much alcohol as they wanted. I was willing to do anything to keep myself sustained. Anything but kill.

As time wore on, I trained myself to be content with the bare minimum and life as a full vampire became the new normal. It was still something I resented and I wished with every fiber of my being that I could just reverse it but I knew I couldn't.

In addition to immortality, I was discovering that I had a slew of interesting abilities. I had mastered flying like David and although that was likely something every vampire could do, to me it felt like I was special. I rarely did it, though. I always feared someone would see me or that I might lose control. I also learned how to use hypnosis. It was another power that most vampires were capable of but it was also something that made me feel superior to the rest of the world and I liked to use it often. Lastly, I had the powers of an all-seer. I didn't know the term for it at the time but I soon learned that if I concentrated hard enough, I could see what David was doing at any given moment.

I told myself I didn't care what David was up to. I tried to convince myself that Santa Carla was a part of my life that was over and done with but no matter how much I tried to deny it, I cared. I found myself in my room most nights after work laying in bed and staring at the ceiling but it wasn't the ceiling I was seeing. I was seeing David go about each night in the exact same routine and I knew how he hated for things to be routine.

It was sad watching him. I knew he was lonely but I never realized how lonely until I began watching him through my mind's eye. A whole year had passed since David had turned me and he had spent it all alone. He lived alone, he hunted alone and he slept alone. Everything he did, he did it alone.

But then one night he wasn't alone.

That was when things truly began to change and I knew I couldn't just stay in Florence and ignore the inevitable any longer. I was going to have to go back.

David had apparently grown very tired of being by himself. Honestly, I couldn't blame him. I felt alone just watching him be alone and I had been expecting him to find someone for a while. The person he found, however, was not at all what I was expecting.

I thought that David would be scouring Santa Carla for the perfect replacements for those that he had lost. A new Marko, Paul and Dwayne. Or even a woman... just anyone to keep from being by himself. But he never seemed to be actively searching. He more or less just stumbled upon someone. And had it been someone else, I would have been more than happy to let him have his new comrade but the person he chose; I couldn't stand for it.

David had found a child.


	4. Hell is for Children

This chapter is probably my favorite by far... I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

* * *

His name was John. He was eleven. He was homeless, confused and scared to death. He was a victim of the system that was supposed to be there to protect him but instead left him in a bad situation with his abusive step father after his mother overdosed on prescription medication. He was a runaway and he spent his time wandering the streets of Santa Carla, stealing what he could to get by and getting most of his meals out of the trash.

In a way, David really was doing him a favor. The streets of Santa Carla were dangerous enough for adults, let alone young kids who could hardly defend themselves. David was protection where John had none. He was the boy's savior in a way.

The problem, for me anyway, arose when David decided to turn the boy.

Providing the boy with shelter and protection was one thing but turning him into a vampire and forcing him to hunt and kill was another. I wasn't going to allow David to do something like that to an innocent child so with a heavy heart and sense of determination, I headed back to Santa Carla to stop him.

David was staying in the cavern at the time and John was using Marko's old bed to sleep in. John hadn't been turned yet. David was hesitating, though I didn't know why at the time. All I had seen was that he talked to John about becoming a vampire, explained what all it entailed and asked the boy if it was what he wanted, to which the child eagerly agreed. But that was just it. He was a _child_. He wasn't aware of the true repercussions of becoming a vampire.

When I came to the cavern that first night back, I was fully prepared for a fight with David. I had been so swept up in just getting there in time to stop him, I hadn't bothered to use my abilities to see what he was actually doing. When I arrived, I only found John in the cavern and he looked as though he already knew who I was.

"Hi..." I said softly, glancing around to see if David was there but I quickly realized he wasn't. I had keener senses now that I had become full fledged and I didn't pick up on his scent, outside of the lingering smell left from his years of residency. He wasn't home. "My name is Tawny."

"Yeah, I figured." John replied with a shrug. "David talks about you all the time."

"Oh he does, huh?" I said, forcing a smile. I stepped closer to John and took a seat on the corner of Marko's old mattress, looking to the boy curiously. "All good things I hope?"

"Yeah. Mostly." John said, shrugging again. "He mostly talks about when you guys were humans, how you used to be best friends. He said you're mad at him now though. Are you still mad?"

I thought about John's question seriously. Was I really mad at David? True, he had forced something upon me that I didn't want but I wasn't sure if it was anger that I felt. For some reason, my mind couldn't come up with an answer so I just chose the easiest response. "No. Not anymore."

"That's good." John replied, smiling up at me. He was such a sweet, innocent boy. I really hated the thought of anything changing that. "Does that mean you'll be friends with David again? He's a cool guy. He takes care of me way better than my step-dad did. And he told me that pretty soon, if everything goes right, he's gonna-"

"John, sweetheart, I need you to come with me." I said, cutting the boy off before he could tell me what I assumed I already knew. I needed him to leave with me. I had to get him away from David and I had to do whatever it took to do so. So I lied. "It looks like things aren't going according to plan for David. That's why I'm here. You have to come with me now so I can look after you while he works at getting everything in order. Okay?"

John looked at me then and it was almost as though he knew I was lying but he didn't want to say it out loud. "What does David have to do exactly? And why didn't he tell me?"

"John, the longer you get to know David, the more you'll realize he has a hard time telling people the important things." I said. This wasn't a lie, at least, not to me. David was the worst at talking about the things that truly mattered.

John seemed to buy my excuse because he let out a sigh and slumped down in disappointment. "Alright. But you better be as fun as David is."

"Well, I can't make any promises." I replied with a smile, nudging him lightly as he joined my side. "But I'll try." I draped my arm over his shoulders and led him out of the cavern that night for the first time but it wouldn't be the last.

That night was only the first of many in a vicious game of tug of war that David and I would begin to play. We were constantly battling each other, sneaking John away from one another and trying our best to keep him oblivious, but I think he really knew deep down what was going on the entire time.

My mother's home had been abandoned for some time. Max had done a good job of hiding her body; she was considered missing and never determined to be deceased so instead of the assets being turned over to the state, they were technically in my name until my mother's death could be confirmed. Of course I had left it all to rot but now I had nowhere else to go. I couldn't take John back to Florence with me. My grandparents were clueless in all this mess and I preferred to keep them that way. That meant we had to stay in Santa Carla and my old home was the only place available to me.

John lived there with me for the first few weeks and he was actually a very helpful boy. While I slept my days away, he was bugging the fishermen for blood. Fish blood. In all honesty, it was the most unpleasant thing I'd ever tasted but it was easy to come by and it helped sustain me.

He found it fascinating that despite being a full fledged vampire, I didn't want to kill anyone. It was in such contrast from what he had seen of David but I made sure to remind him that I was very different from David and that killing wasn't a necessity as long as there was some kind of steady supply.

But despite his kind and helpful nature, John was discontent. He often complained that David used to take him to the boardwalk and let him ride whatever he wanted. I found it hard to allow that because I knew David was looking for him but after days and weeks of begging and pleading, I finally relented.

I took him to the boardwalk and I tried my hardest to use my powers as an all-seer to find out where David was but I needed complete concentration and it was hard to focus with all that was going on around me. The night seemed to go fairly smoothly, but of course, I was bound to get caught eventually.

"Tawny!" I heard that oh so familiar voice calling to me, but it didn't sound happy in the slightest. I kept walking, placing my arm around John to lead him away in hopes that he hadn't heard but it was useless. David was quicker than he'd ever been and he was in front of us before I could blink. "Well, well you two. Long time no see. Johnny, where the hell you been, kiddo?" He said this to John with a smile, though his glare was fixated on mine.

"It's okay, David." I said, pulling John closer against me. "He knows all about those plans you have to finish. I don't mind watching him for a while longer."

"Well, I'm almost finished with those plans." David said, his smile faltering as he glanced up at the Giant Dipper. He dug into his back pocket and fished out a handful of ride tickets. "Tell ya what, kiddo... why don't you go ride the coaster? Tawny and I need to discuss some things."

John glanced up at me then with questioning eyes since I had told him he needed to stay by my side at all times but I patted his back and forced a smile. "It's okay. Go ahead. We'll be right here when you get off. The both of us." I then watched as he accepted the crumpled up ride tickets from David's hand and hurried off, my gaze never leaving him until he disappeared from sight.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Tawn?" David asked, and there was a playful nature in his voice but I knew that was only because we were in public and there were ears all around. Underneath that, it was dark and infuriated.

I turned my gaze to David and stared hard at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "If you think for an instant that I'm going to let you turn that sweet little boy into a killer-"

"You don't even know what you're talking about, Tawny." David said, his smile and pleasant demeanor deteriorating to an angry scowl. "There's shit going on here that you couldn't possibly understand. You need to back off. And what the fuck are you doing here anyway? Did you finally come back to kill me and rid yourself of your _ailment_?"

I froze then, unsure what to say. I averted my gaze and pulled my arms more snugly across my chest. "No. Killing you now would do me no good."

I could see his face out of my peripheral vision, his eyebrow cocking in interest at my words. "You did it? You fed?"

"I didn't mean to." I whispered, my gaze snapping back to his. "It was an accident, and I haven't done it since! I've found other ways."

He was smiling then and his smile seemed genuine. "Tawny, that's great-"

"If you think I came back to join you David, you can wipe that smirk off your face. It's not happening." I said quickly. "I came back for John. To protect him from you."

I watched David's face get angry all over again but it soon subsided to a look of confusion. "Wait, you came back for the kid? How'd you even know about him?"

"I can see you, David." I replied. I was unaware at the time that my powers were fairly rare in the vampire world so when David acted as though he had no idea what I meant, my frustration grew. "You know, concentrating really hard on thinking about a person so you can see what they're doing no matter where they are. You're the only person I can see for some reason though, so don't get too flattered."

"You're an all-seer." David said, the look of realization taking over his face. "Just like Max."

"A what?" I asked with a scoff, irritable at being compared to Max in any way.

"It's... not important." David said with a half chuckle. "Listen, Tawny, about the kid-"

"Save it, David." I said, shaking my head. "I don't care how lonely you are and I really don't care how justified you think it is, you are _not_ turning John. I won't stand for it."

"Is that so?" David replied, the amusement on his face falling away once again to reveal a look of irritation. "Well, if there's one thing I won't stand for, it's you getting in my way. Don't oppose me, Tawny. It's not wise."

"The only thing unwise is you threatening me, David." I placed my hands on my hips and looked up at him furiously. "I can't stand who you've become. I used to think that you'd be one of the good ones but after all this time it turns out that you're _just like Max_."

David reached out then with lightening quick speed and grabbed my wrists, pulling me close against him as he pressed his mouth to my ear. His next words sent chills down my spine. "I'm not threatening you, Tawny. I'm warning you. This is not a game you want to play with me. Quit now while you're ahead because if you continue to fuck with me I'll be more than happy to show you just how muck like Max I really am."

He released me then and I took a step back, staring at him in disbelief. He was certainly a different man from the one he used to be. David had never threatened me before and I didn't know what to make of it. I didn't get any time to retort. John was returning from the roller coaster and that meant the niceties had to return.

David placed an arm around John and stared at me with a devious smirk. "Anyhow, as I was telling you, I'm pretty much done with everything I needed so I'll be taking John back home with me now. Thanks again for taking such good care of him."

I looked from David to John, panic filling me. I didn't want to let him go but fighting with David didn't seem like an option. He was more powerful than me, I knew that. I also knew that we couldn't have it out in front of John. If the boy realized I'd been lying to him, it wouldn't matter if I won or not. I'd lose his trust so I resolved to just let him go. "Alright." I said with a nod before pulling John into a hug. "But you be sure to come visit me every once in a while okay?"

John nodded happily. "Sure thing! I still gotta take care of your fish blood supply."

David snickered and rolled his eyes at the fish blood comment but his condescension was short lived. I quickly dove against his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. To John and other passersby, it appeared as though I was giving David a long overdue hug but that was the furthest from reality. I pressed my mouth against his ear much like he had done to me earlier and kept my voice at a whisper. "I swear to god, David, if you turn that child I will spend every waking moment of the rest of my life trying to end you. Do not do it."

As I released my hold on David, I could hear him let out a chuckle and in my mind I could hear his voice. _"I'd love to see you try, sweetheart."_ He pulled away and grasped John's shoulder, leading the boy away from me. "See ya around, Tawny."

And he definitely would be seeing me around. We were continually snatching John back and forth from each other and we always had to play nice about it, though David was often snarkier than he should have been, especially in my head where he could say whatever he wanted to me without John hearing. Still, he could have been worse to me. He could've killed me if he really wanted to.

But everything changed once again during one of the occasions that I had John in my custody. It was his twelfth birthday and when I asked him what he wished for, his answer was a surprise. All John wanted was to be a healthy little boy.

As it turned out, John was sick. Really sick. He'd contracted a disease that was still pretty new to the world at the time; AIDS. When he was a lot younger, he was involved in the car crash that took his father's life. He was seriously injured and had lost a lot of blood. He had endured several blood transfusions and ended up contracting the virus that the world only knew as a death sentence. John, unless a cure was found, was going to die a very young death. My heart broke in that instant and I had no idea what to do so I did the only thing I could do.

I went to David.

David had known all along about John's disease and he scolded me like a child when I mentioned it to him. He told me that if I hadn't been so quick to anger and threaten, I would have known about John's ailment sooner. He was right. I was the one who had messed up.

Now John's health was fleeting. He was starting to get weaker and I knew there was a good chance that he might not live to see his thirteenth birthday. After a long discussion with David about what needed to be done, he convinced me that the obvious answer was simply to turn John. No disease could kill the boy if he was immortal.

So David, John and I sat down and talked everything out and when it was all said and done, David turned John with a cupful of vampire blood. Of course, there was still the matter of John needing to make his first kill and accepting the fact that he was to remain a child forever, but those were things I tried not to dwell on.

And, for a while, that was the end of the squabbling between David and I. I still stayed separate from him but I did join him and John on occasion for a few outings before I decided to go back to Florence and put as much distance between myself and the past as I could.


	5. Surrender but Don't Give Yourself Away

So here is the second to last chapter. Like I said, it's a short story and part of me really wishes it could just go on forever (I mean, they're vampires after all) but I know it can't. So enjoy! I'll probably post the last chapter later in the week.

* * *

Three years had gone by and I watched David and John closely from the comfort of my bedroom in Oregon. Now that John was a vampire, I could watch his every move and I ended up watching him more often than I watched David. John had taken after me in the aspect of not wanting to take human life after the essential first kill that would make him a full fledged vampire and I couldn't help but feel proud. Of course this meant that David had to work twice as hard at providing for John. David would feed nightly and then find some poor animal to kill to stock up on blood for the boy.

David was taking good care of John, though, and he never once tried to convince the boy that killing his own prey would be a better idea.

They were close. As close as brothers or even like a father and son and it made me happy to see that they had each other. They took care of each other and they certainly didn't need me around anymore. That didn't mean they didn't talk about me though. Every once in a while the topic of what I might be doing would come up and that was usually when I stopped watching. Now I was the one who was all alone and it made me too sad to sit and listen to them talk about me.

I was genuinely happy with the way David was handling things and I began to believe that everything would be able to stay as it was. That was a foolish notion.

John would often mention a person named Lily, and David, knowing that I was likely watching would always reply that they would talk about it later. It was never a good time to talk about Lily. I found myself wondering who Lily was. Was she someone David knew? A woman he intended to turn? A lover? The possibilities were endless but I never in a million years would have guessed who Lily was or what significance she held for John and David.

Then one night out of the blue, David had another child in his care. A much younger child than John had been... Lily was a five year old little girl. She was John's half sister, apparently, and she had been too young to take along when John ran away from his abusive step father so he had left her behind but from the moment he met David, they'd had every intention of going back for her when the time was right.

I had no problem with David taking care of another child and I really did want John to be able to have his sister in his life but something in my gut told me that David had more plans for the girl than just taking care of her.

Reluctant to return, I headed back to Santa Carla and straight for David who was now staying with the children in Max's house. I let myself in and looked around for them, finding them all sitting at the kitchen table eating what appeared to be breakfast. My eyes flew instantly to the contents of Lily's glass which was a red fluid and the smell of blood was in the air. I turned my gaze to David furiously. "David!"

"Relax." David said, wiping his hands on a napkin as he stood to approach me. "She has a bladder infection thanks to her father's shitty care. It's just cranberry juice to help clear it up."

The tension I felt melted away at David's explanation, but only slightly. I glanced at the children who were watching us from the table before I reached out to tug on David's sleeve. "Can I talk to you for a minute? Privately?"

"Sure." David turned his gaze to John and Lily to give them a quick smile. "You kids go ahead and eat, okay?" He then turned from them and placed his hand on the small of my back to lead me through the dining room into the living room. "You got here quick this time."

"What is going on, David?" I whispered harshly.

"You're the all-seer. You tell me." David said with a shrug and a chuckle.

"Don't play games with me, David. That little girl... why do you have her?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"It's Johnny's sister." David replied, shrugging again. "You know how his step-dad was. I couldn't leave an innocent little girl in that situation even if he is her real father. The poor kid is barely potty trained and her hygiene was terrible. You should've seen her when I first picked her up!"

"I did see her." I muttered, thinking back on the image. Although I hadn't seen David in the act of retrieving the girl I had seen what she looked like when he first brought her home. Her blonde curls looked like a rat's nest and she appeared to be filthy. The child was also very thin and frail looking and it was clear her father hadn't been taking very good care of her. Even still... "Still, that doesn't give you the right to just take her and bring her here. You can't possibly take care of a human child."

"I'm doing fine so far." David said haughtily. "A lot better than that man you could hardly call her father."

"Look at me, David." I said, trying my hardest to remain calm. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't intend to turn her and I'll leave without so much as another word."

David was hesitant to answer me and a small smile cracked on his face. This was all a joke to him. A big game he was playing. "Come on, Tawny. You don't expect Johnny to live without his little sister for the rest of eternity, do you?"

He knew he could get to me by playing on my affection for John. I had grown very attached to the boy in those months when I was trying to keep him from being turned and David knew that. He knew he could manipulate my feelings for John in hopes of getting what he wanted but I wasn't going to let it happen. "David, I don't want John to have to experience pain any more than you do but dealing with loss is a fact of life that we all have to accept."

"No we don't, Tawny, and you know that." David said with a shake of his head. "You and I both know that death is _optional_. Johnny could live forever and never have to experience his sister's death. And he should never have to. Don't you think he's been through enough with his father and his mother and then living on the streets?"

"John's life wasn't great until after he met you, I'll admit." I replied. "But that doesn't mean you can be cavalier with the lives of humans! That little girl is far too young to be making any kind of decision on whether or not she wants to be a vampire. She's _too young_."

"Well obviously I was going to let her grow up a bit first." David said with a scoff as he crossed his arms. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I think you are." I answered. "What are the neighbors going to think when they see these kids and realize that they only come out at night? And wow, they miraculously never seem to age! Don't you think that's going to cause some concerns? A young single guy raising two kids that only come out to play at night and never seem to get any older... that doesn't scream bizarre to you?"

"It's not ideal." David admitted, mumbling it more to himself than to me. "But I'm working with what I'm given and I'm doing the best I can. The least you could do is make it easier on me."

"Easier on you?" I asked with a snort and a roll of my eyes. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"You said it yourself, a young single guy raising two kids is pretty bizarre." David shrugged and smiled at me in a way that told me he already knew my response and he found it humorous. "You ever think about being a mom, Tawny?"

My face paled, which is certainly saying something of a vampire and I took a step back from David, almost too flabbergasted to believe his words. "You're fucking joking."

David chuckled but shook his head and smiled widely at me. "I'm not. Shit, you've always been motherly, nagging me about this and that. Besides, Johnny boy misses you. He talks about you all the time; asking when we can go visit and wondering if I've heard from you lately. He'd like it if you were around and I could definitely use a woman's touch where Lily is involved. You have to admit it, Tawny, it only makes sense."

I did have to admit that for what David was wanting, the idea made sense. David wanted to raise these kids and attract as little attention as possible. A young man who was physically frozen at eighteen would raise a few questions when it came to rearing two children. I myself hadn't aged a day since I was nineteen and I definitely showed it in the way I dressed and styled my hair. Technically speaking though, we were twenty-seven and twenty-five, respectively. Our current birth certificates and driver's licenses showed this and the more years that passed by, the more believable it would be that we could be the parents of these children. So yes, David's idea made a whole lot of sense. There was only one problem.

"You're out of your goddamned mind." I said, shaking my head vigorously at him. "I am _not_ going to play house with you! I came here to stop you from turning that little girl into a vampire, not help you do it."

"Tawny, listen..." David started, reaching out to place his hands on my shoulders but I pulled from his reach.

"No. You listen!" I shouted. "Nine years. Nine years I have known you and in that time I have watched you deteriorate from a respectable, decent young man into an exact replica if the monster that ended up tearing us apart. You may not want to see it, David, but you really are becoming just like Max."

David snickered and shook his head at my words. "Here we go again. Are you really sure you want to do this all over again, Tawn? Think about it, really. Do you want to start this fight all over?"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about! The thinly veiled threats and that cocky, pompous attitude. It's not like you, David." I said with a scoff turning back toward the kitchen to gather the children but David stopped me.

He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back, pulling me close against him. "You say that as though you even know who I am. The truth is, you have no clue who I am or what I'm like anymore. And maybe if you'd stayed around instead of running away like a coward, you'd have a better idea just exactly what I'm like. Whether you choose to accept it or not, this is who I am."

"It may be who you are now but it's not who you used to be!" I said with a scowl. "The David I knew was a good guy who looked out for people and you may not have always been the nicest guy but you never threatened anybody!"

"I threatened people all the time! Zach, Dwayne, Paul, anyone who dared mess with you. You may have been oblivious to it but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. I looked out for you the same way I'm looking out for these kids and just like I did with you, I'll threaten anyone who stands in my way of taking care of them." David released his hold on me and the angry expression on his face fell away. "Shit, Tawny... you think I wanted this? You think I wanted to be at war with you all the time? Living forever with you hating me for doing what I have to do? I never wanted any of that."

I looked up at him, a twinge of sadness tugging at me. He seemed to be so sincere, loathful of the idea that we were enemies rather than friends. Of course, sincerity from a vampire was something I had learned to distrust. Max had always put up a caring front and Zach... Zach had been the most convincing of all. There was a point where I actually believed that Zach loved me, though that's a tale for another time.

I inhaled sharply and looked up at David with regret. "I didn't want this either, but this is what we get. Now, I'm going in there and getting those kids to take them away from here and if you want to stop me, David, you're going to have to kill me."

And David, to his eternal credit, didn't try to stop me. In fact, he explained to the kids that he had some business he needed to take care of and that they would have to stay with me, though he insisted it would only be for a few days. Unbeknownst to him, however, I didn't intend to stay in Santa Carla with the children. I took them to my mother's house for that first night but as soon as the sun went down the next day, John and I flew with Lily back to my grandparent's house in Oregon.

There was a spare bedroom there and my grandmother was more than happy to have children in the house. She didn't ask many questions about them after I told her they were orphans. With my grandparent's help, I got Lily enrolled in school so that she could live a normal life . They took her to and from school while John and I slept all day and during the evening after the sunset, we would all go on family outings to the park or to the movies.

My grandparents never questioned anything and for that, I was grateful. I didn't know how to tell them just exactly what I'd become.

David was furious. I had been watching him, waiting to see what would happen when he came to collect the kids and found that they weren't where he expected them to be. Weeks passed by that he was searching for us and he was growing angrier and angrier. His attacks on his victims grew more brutal and gruesome. It got to the point that he would often shout at me when he was alone, knowing that I was likely watching him. It was always threats. Petty threats.

Three more years passed by and Lily was an eight year old girl with lots of friends and a higher intelligence than her stunted early development allowed. I was so proud of her. So was John. She had such promise and John and I had discussed at length about his sister and how she should be allowed to have a normal life. Despite being stuck in the body of a twelve year old, John was mentally eighteen and he had matured quite a bit over the years. He agreed that Lily should be left to a normal progression of life and if she decided later to become a vampire, it should be only her choice.

Unfortunately, one night changed all that.

John, Lily and I were at the park. My grandparents had decided to stay home for the evening so it was just the three of us. The children were playing tag and enjoying the last bit of Autumn weather before it got too cold to play outside at night. It was starting to get late and Lily had school the next morning so we started our walk home, hand in hand. Everything happened so fast, even with my quick reflexes, I wasn't able to stop it. We were struck by a drunk driver while crossing the street.

John and I absorbed most of the impact and of course we were fine. Lily was not so lucky. She lay in the street bleeding profusely and in terrible pain. She was crying and clinging to my hand and I was petrified. I didn't know what to do.

The driver was out of his car and approaching us and mumbling something incoherent as he clutched his keys in his hand. Without a second thought, I ripped the keys from his hand and stabbed myself in the wrist with one. I had seen David do something similar when the time came to turn John so I had an idea of what I was doing. I kept cutting myself with the dull, jagged key to let myself bleed into Lily's mouth until she'd had enough. There was a slight change in her eyes but I knew it would all be for nothing if she didn't feed.

I stood swiftly and grabbed the man who had struck us, forcing him to kneel down so that Lily didn't need to move much. John helped his sister sit up, the man blubbering in confusion the entire time. In a split second, it was over. Lily fed on the man as her brother instructed and just that quickly, she was a vampire like the rest of us.

I felt myself overwhelmed with guilt.

Not just that I had turned Lily and robbed her of any sense of normal for the rest of eternity, but because I had been so wretched to David about turning people he cared about into vampires. He'd done it to Marko and I bitched at him. He'd done it to me and I bitched at him. He'd done it to John and before he had, I bitched at him for that too. Yet there I was doing the exact same thing because I couldn't bear the thought of losing somebody I cared for.

John and Lily had become family to me and I was the biggest hypocrite in the world because of that.

The very next night, the kids said goodbye to my grandparents and we headed back to Santa Carla. I had kept John and Lily away from David for too long. Lily had a vague memory of David at best but John had been eager to see his father figure again. David had moved back into the cavern so that was where I left the two. John was pleading with me to stay but I knew if I did, things between David and I wouldn't go well. He was still furious with me after three years of being away and I knew we'd only end up getting into a screaming match which nobody needed.

I did watch their reunion from the comfort of my mother's home, however. It made me truly happy to see the look of relief and joy on David's face when he saw John and Lily. There were lots of hugs and plenty of laughter and a piece of me wanted desperately to be a part of it but I had resolved to just watch from afar. All the bad blood between David and I... it wasn't going to just go away. He was angry at me and I was angry at him and neither one of us really knew what we were angry about. We were just angry.

Though, despite all the anger and the betrayal and the bickering, I awoke the next night to find a bouquet of flowers on the kitchen counter with a little note attached to it. I unfolded the note and read it out loud to myself with a chuckle. "Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright." Lyrics from an old Cheap Trick song I'd heard David blast a little too loudly on occasion back when we were still human. I allowed myself to smile at his chicken scratch handwriting before folding the note back up. On the back I noticed more writing, this bit written in red ink. "The good stuff is in the freezer. Take care of yourself."


	6. I'm Ripe With Things to Say

Sooooo... I decided to split this chapter up into two chapters. That means this ISN'T the last chapter after all. Sorry for the confusion!

Black Zora mentioned (more or less) that Tawny is being a real brat toward David. I'm glad that was brought up because that's kind of the whole point of this story. Tawny and David's relationship has always been complicated and that's mostly due to Tawny's self righteous attitude. In the last story, their relationship was strained because she was too stubborn and prideful for it to be anything else. Tawny needed a big wake up call if they were ever going to mend what was broken and the best way for that to happen was for her to come to the realization that good and bad are only relative terms and that nobody is perfect, especially her. She's certainly beginning to learn that. Now we'll just have to see if it will do her any good...

Enjoy!

* * *

I had decided to stay in Santa Carla after bringing John and Lily back. I told myself that it was so I could be right there in case David decided to pull any more stunts but if I was honest with myself, it was so I could be close to him and the kids.

The first couple months were lonely, watching them be a family and trying my hardest to keep my distance. It was for the best, I told myself. I needed to just be content. Somebody was bringing bags of frozen blood to me and leaving them on the front porch every week. I had plenty enough to be sustained and I really had no reason to ever leave the house. That was fine. I knew if I left the house I'd just be too tempted to go and get the kids so I always stayed inside. But one night, for whatever reason, I felt compelled to go out. That was the night I opened the door and saw him standing there.

"Tawny..." David said quietly, his face reflecting shock as though he hadn't expected me to be there at all. "H-hey. How's it going?"

I looked to him, blinking widely as I noticed the bag of blood in his hands. I couldn't fight the slight curvature to my lips upon seeing him hold the bag. "So it's you that's been leaving the little treats."

"Who else would it be?" David said with a shrug, eyes watching me in uncertainty. "Tell me you're not just pouring it down the drain."

"No." I said, shaking my head quickly. "No, I've been drinking it. It's been helpful. Thank you. But, can I ask why?"

"I... I have to provide for my family." David replied and before I could protest like I normally would, he elaborated. "I know we're not a family in the strictest sense. I just mean that I turned you so I'm responsible for you, especially since you never wanted any of this."

"It's okay." I said softly. "I know what you meant. It's respectable."

A small smile flashed across David's face then as he handed the frozen bag over to me. "I'm glad you see it that way." He stood staring at me for a moment before taking a step backwards. "Well, I should go. The kids are waiting on me."

"Tell them I said hi? Please?" I asked hopefully as I watched him back away.

"Sure thing." He nodded to me before turning away. I watched him for a few seconds before turning back into the house but before I was all the way inside he called out to me. "Hey, Tawny?"

I whirled around and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. For some reason, there was a feeling of excitement racing through me. "Yeah?"

He looked at me in silence for a bit as though he was deep in thought before he sucked in a quick breath and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm taking the kids to play mini golf at the boardwalk. If you're not too busy, I could use a hand with them. Lily's a little spitfire and I'm having a hard time keeping up with her in my old age."

I couldn't fight the bright smile that came to my face at David's joke and his invitation. I nodded almost instantly, far too eager to be reunited with the three of them. "Sure. Let me just go put this away."

I carried the blood inside and stashed it in the freezer, hurrying to get back outside so that I didn't keep David waiting. I didn't want him to change his mind. I grabbed my jacket and pulled it on, exiting the front door to see David sitting on his bike. An overwhelming feeling of nostalgia took hold of me at the sight and I had to fight the tears that were coming to my eyes. I hurried over to him and climbed onto the back of the bike.

You know that old saying, that something fits like a glove?

It was the world's biggest understatement. Climbing on the back of that bike and wrapping my arms around David's waist was more like finding a favorite old glove that had been lost for a really, really long time and slipping it on to find that it fit just as it always had. I pressed my face against his back and held tightly to him as we rocketed off down the street.

We picked the kids up from Max's house, taking the new car David had bought to the boardwalk where we spent a majority of the night golfing and playing games in the arcade. When everything closed down, we went back to the house and watched movies until the wee hours of the morning and the kids began to tucker out, their tiny bodies too weak to last a full night. I helped David put them to bed and kissed their heads gently.

"I've missed them." I said quietly as I exited Lily's room, taking one last glance at her before I closed the door.

"I know what you mean." David replied quietly and I knew he was talking about those years that I had kept Lily and John from him.

I looked to him apologetically and let out a heavy sigh as we walked from the hallway back into the living room. "David, I'm sorry. I never should have taken them away from you."

"You were just trying to do what you felt was best." David said with a shrug. "There's no hard feelings. You brought them back."

"Yes, but it still doesn't make it right." I sighed again and looked away from him. "This whole time I thought I was being so damn righteous and it turns out, I was just being a hypocrite. I was so mad at you, I looked down upon you as though you were so much lesser than me. The truth is, I'm no better than you or Max or any other vampire out there. When I was faced with the same choices you were given, I did the exact same thing you did. I'm sorry for judging you. That was wrong of me."

"I forgive you." David said with a smile, nudging my chin with his hand gently so that I would look up at him. "And hey, don't sweat the small stuff. We have the rest of eternity to make up for all that stupid fighting."

"Yeah, I guess." I returned David's smile, staring at him for a moment before I realized it was very early in the morning and the sun would be coming up soon. "Anyway, I should be going. I gotta get home before the sun comes up." I turned to grab my jacket off the couch but I felt David catch me by my wrist. It wasn't rough or forceful like it had been the last few times he had grabbed me. I turned back to look up at him in curiosity and there was a strange expression on his face.

"Stay." He muttered, his hand slipping slowly from my wrist. "Please."

I shook my head in habit of protest and inhaled deeply. "David I-"

"Please, Tawny. The kids miss you and... I do too." He released his grip on me completely and stared calmly at me. "Look, I know you feel like if you stay it will just be letting me win and then you wouldn't have taught me any sort of lesson but don't you think enough time has gone by? I've learned my lesson. You don't need to punish me anymore."

"I'm not trying to punish you." I replied, my voice scarcely above a whisper. I didn't know what else to say to him then. He was expecting a response to his proposal and I couldn't give him an answer. I wanted to be true to myself but I was at a loss for what that even meant. Did it mean continuing to be stubborn and fight him every step of the way because that was what I had always done? Or did it mean giving in to what I really wanted and becoming a part of a family unit, spending eternity with the people I cared for? "So much has happened, David."

"That's true." David said with a shrug before he placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled down at me. "But that's just a very small part of the rest of forever."

I stood there staring up at him. There was so much hope on his face as he continued to smile at me. It almost broke my heart. I stepped forward and draped my arms over his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. He returned my embrace and I stood on tiptoe, pressing my lips to his cheek before I pulled away. "Tell the kids I love them." I said softly. "Tell them that I love them and I'm sorry."

David shook his head, his brow furrowing. "Tawny-"

"Don't come by my mother's house, don't bring me any blood, don't come looking for me at all." I stepped toward the door, the look on David's face one of disbelief as I started to exit the home. "Goodbye, David."


	7. Don't Let the Days Go By

So here we are at the _actual _final chapter.

I couldn't find anywhere to really mention it in the story but I'd like to point out that Tawny's favorite book at this time in her life is _Interview With the Vampire_ because it makes her feel like she isn't the only "pathetic" vampire out there, even if that other "pathetic" vampire is just a literary character. David, if he knew, would surely chastise her.

Also, if it wasn't very obvious, the names I chose for this story stem from Peter Pan. You know, just to keep with that whole theme.

Anyway, I want to thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed this short story. I know I enjoyed writing it. Thanks again! :)

* * *

In all honesty, walking out that door was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I wanted so badly to stay but for a reason unclear to myself, I didn't. Listening to David bang on the door of my mother's house, pleading for me to come out the following night didn't make things any easier. I knew I couldn't stay in Santa Carla. It would be too hard. So once again I headed back to Oregon, this time for the last time.

This time I didn't watch David or John or Lily. I knew hearing their voices and seeing their faces would be too painful. I wasn't going to torture myself. I was already tortured enough just being away from them. It was hard not to look in on them. I often found myself wondering about them and I was entirely tempted to just take a peek but I knew if I did, I'd go running back to them in an instant.

I don't know why that seemed like such a terrible thing at the time, but it did.

Four miserable years went by without them. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I could barely feed. I was depressed and I was certain that life was going to drag on and on. Forever was going to seem so much longer than it needed to. That was about the time I started seriously considering just taking a boat out into the middle of the ocean so I could jump off and float around and wait for the sun to come up. There'd be nothing left of me.

Those types of thoughts began to consume me. After all, I'd never wanted immortality to begin with. Death began to seem even more like the best option for me. It was either that or spend eternity in my own personal hell.

Thankfully, something came along to change all that.

I was home alone one night. My grandparents had gone to a movie and I was once again in my room staring at the ceiling thinking deeply on what way would be the best way to rid the earth of myself. Mine was a pathetic existence. But there came a sound in my ears that pulled me from my depressing thoughts and startled me to my core. The doorbell rang. I climbed out of bed and looked at the clock on my bedside table. It was almost eleven o'clock. Nobody should be coming to anybody's house that late at night.

I made my way to the front door and pulled it open but there was nobody there. Just the rain.

Irritated, I closed the door and started back toward my room when the doorbell rang again. I turned back around and pulled the door open again and still nothing. It happened again, three more times before I decided to just stand there with my hand on the door knob, ready to jerk the door open and catch whoever thought this little game was fun. The doorbell rang and I yanked the door open but again, nobody was there. My frustration was growing and I was done playing games. I stepped outside into the rain and looked around furiously. "What!? What the hell do you want!?"

"I was hoping your grandparents would answer." David said from behind me, standing in the doorway. "I knew if you answered, you wouldn't invite us in."

"David!" I shouted before his words registered in my head. "Wait, _'us?'_ You mean the kids are here? Where!?"

"They're in the car." David replied. "I wanted them to wait there in case you were mad about us coming here. I mean, you specifically told me not to look for you and-"

Before David could finish his sentence, I bolted forward and threw my arms around him. "I'm so glad you found me!"

I could hear him laugh softly as he returned my hug, wrapping his arms around my waist tightly to lift me off the ground. "I'm glad you're glad."

"Where are they?" I asked as I pulled away and wiped the tears from my face, thankful for the rain to hide the fact that I was crying. "I want to see the kids."

"You will." David said with a nod. "But there's something I need to talk to you about first. Can I come in?"

"Of course." I said, pushing David backward into the house. I was anxious to see the children. Whatever he wanted to discuss, I just needed for it to be over with. "What's going on?"

"I'm going to assume you haven't been keeping an eye on us, otherwise you'd know." David said, brushing the water from his hair with his fingers. "The kids and I are moving in a few months. We're leaving Santa Carla."

"You are?" I asked. For some reason the idea made me want to cry. "Why?"

"You were right. A young single guy raising kids who only come out at night is starting to attract the attention of the neighbors." David shrugged and sighed. "I should have listened to you. You always know best."

"So why don't you just return to the cavern?" I asked curiously. "There's no nosy neighbors there."

David shook his head quickly. "There aren't any neighbors but the kids deserve to have a real home. The cavern was all good and well when it was just me and Johnny but with Lily and Moira-"

"Moira?" I asked, blinking in shock. "Who the hell is Moira?"

David looked to me with a sheepish smile then, placing his hands on his hips. "You really haven't been watching, have you? Look, you can't get mad. Just hear me out..."

I looked to David skeptically. "What did you do now? You turned someone else, didn't you? Is she supposed to be your lover? A mother to the kids?"

"Come with me, Tawny." David said, taking my hands in his own to pull me toward the door. "Let me show you."

And I wanted to protest against him but I thought that it was best I just hear him out. After all, getting angry at him without letting him explain had only caused trouble in the past. I let him lead me from the house and back out into the rain. I walked with him still clutching my hands around the corner to where his car sat parked. He released his hold on me then and walked over to the car, opening the back door to reach in and grab something.

Meanwhile, John and Lily burst out of the car and were running toward me, throwing their arms around me in excitement.

"Tawny!" John shouted as he embraced me with a wide smile. "We missed you!"

"I missed you guys too." I muttered, pressing my lips to the top of his head before kissing the top of Lily's and trying my hardest not to cry. "How've you been?"

"Good, except now we have to move because some stupid jerks found us!" Lily said with a huff. "But that's okay because Dad took care of it."

"_Dad_?" I asked with a half smile, cocking an eyebrow up at David who was still shuffling around in the back of the car.

When I next saw his face, he was smiling nervously at me. In his arms he held a fluffy Saint Bernard puppy with a pink ribbon around her collar. "This is Moira." He said, approaching me slowly. "Cute, huh?"

I reached out and scratched the dog behind the ears, admiring how absolutely adorable she was, but I was still skeptical. "A dog, David?"

"I figured you were right about what you said. Everybody has to learn about loss and pain at some point. So I got the kids a dog." David said, shrugging as though it was as simple as that. I knew it wasn't.

"Mmm hmm." I replied with a nod before crossing my arms over my chest. "Now, why don't you tell me why you really got a dog? And what's this Lily was telling me about having to move because some jerks found you?"

David sighed then and handed the puppy into John's arms, looking at the kids expectantly. "You guys put Moira back in her crate and then get back in the car. You don't need to get your clothes drenched from the rain." He stood beside me and watched as they did as they were told before he clasped my elbow and pulled me away from the car. "I didn't want to say anything. It's not a big deal."

"David, enough with the secrets. Enough with the lies. Tell me everything." I demanded. I looked up at him impatiently and began to tap my foot. I could see he was hesitant to tell me what I wanted to know but he finally spoke.

"Those guys that killed Marko and the others; they got to sniffing around again and found out I'm still alive." David said with a sigh. "They went to the cavern looking for me and I knew it was only a matter of time before they came looking at Max's place. I couldn't let them hurt the kids so we stayed at your mom's place for a bit but I knew we weren't safe there either. We had to get out of Santa Carla or this was all going to be for nothing. I know those guys aren't gonna quit looking, though, so in about a year when Moira will be big enough to protect the kids, I'm gonna go back to Santa Carla to throw those guys off the trail."

"David, that's insanity." I said quietly. "You don't need to go back. Just take the kids somewhere nice and desolate. Somewhere you can't be found."

"I already have a place in mind." David replied. "Up in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. It's supposed to be beautiful there. And the great thing is that Max left so much money behind in his safe, getting a nice place should be no problem. I was thinking a four bedroom house, maybe with an office."

"Four bedrooms?" I looked up at David, curiosity tugging at me. "You planning on getting another kid or is Moira going to have her own room?"

"The fourth room is for you, Tawny." David said matter-of-factly. "I can't... no, I _won't_ take no for an answer this time. I'm not going to spend the rest of eternity at odds with you. I know we've had our problems and we'll probably always have problems but we're going to work it out like fucking adults and stop this childish game of tag. Now, you have two options. You can either come with the kids and me to Tahoe or you can make room for us here but one way or another, we're not leaving here without you."

I stared up at David. The rain trickling down on us was beginning to disperse. I could see his chest heaving in anticipation as though he was ready for a heated argument which normally would have followed any time he demanded I do something. But I was tired of fighting. I wasn't going to argue or complain. I was ecstatic at the thought of laying down my stubbornness and joining the three of them, I just had to play it cool.

"So, Lily calls you _Dad_ now, huh?" I said, taking a step closer to David. "And I suppose you want me to play mom?"

"It would help with the image." David said, anxiousness in his voice. He wanted a definite answer but I wasn't going to give him one right away.

"Image. Yeah." I said, nodding as I reached up to tug at a piece of David's hair. "You know, it's the nineties. It's been the nineties for nine whole years now and you're still rocking this bleach blond mullet of yours. You're so worried about image, a sensible haircut might help."

"Damn it Tawny." David said, grasping my hand to pull it away from his hair. "I didn't come here to talk about my fashion sense."

"Are you sure?" I said with a chuckle, reaching up to adjust his jacket. "I mean, these duds have been out of style for at least five years." I was driving him crazy with my lack of an answer, I knew that. But that was what made it so fun. I'd been away from him for too long. I missed messing with him. "Don't even get me started on those jeans. Nobody wears their pants that tight anymore. It's a shame about that though. You always had such a cute butt."

"Tawny, enough!" David shouted, his frustration bubbling over. "What's it gonna be?"

I stared at him for a moment, watching his face. He looked irritated but there was something different underneath it, almost like desperation. After a minute that must have seemed like an eternity to him, I shrugged and placed my hands on my hips. "We don't have to get married or anything, do we? Because I'll be honest, the idea of marrying you just grosses me out and-"

Before I could finish teasing him further, he wrapped his arms around me in the biggest hug he's ever given me. I laughed against his shoulder before pushing away from his hug. He ruffled my hair and grinned at me. "So you think my hair is out of style?"

"It's nineteen ninety-eight, David. Nobody wears mullets anymore." I nudged him playfully and motioned back toward my grandparent's house. "Why don't you pull the car around? I want you to meet my grandparents before we leave."

David nodded to me then and started back toward the car. I walked back to the house with a smile on my face, unable to contain my joy that I was finally letting myself put my pride away so that I could be happy.

David and the kids came inside to help me pack and my grandparents returned home soon after. As it turned out, they knew all along what had been going on with me. They'd had their own dealings with vampires in the past and had spotted the signs in me almost instantly. Despite their bad experience with vampires, they seemed to like David and they were happy to know that I wasn't going to be spending eternity alone.

We stayed much later than expected. I knew it was the last time I was going to see either one of my grandparents and that made it even harder to leave. As the sun began to come up outside, the four of us piled onto the bed in my room. It was the first and last time we all slept together as a family. It was a restless sleep full of elbows to the face, tossing and turning and even some snoring but it was the best sleep I'd had in the four years I'd been gone.

The next night, we said goodbye to my grandparents for the last time and started the long drive back to Santa Carla. A few months after that and we were headed to Lake Tahoe where David had purchased the perfect house, secluded and beautiful and everything we could have ever wanted. It even had UV proof windows that allowed us to be anywhere in the house safely at all hours of the day.

For the first time in a long time, life was good. Life felt right. I was with my family and I was happy. Days passed into weeks, into months, into years and I never once regretted going with David and the kids; though I admit it wasn't always perfect.

There were days when the kids lamented being stuck in the bodies of children, never growing up or experiencing adult life. There were days when David and I would get on each others nerves and bicker like bratty siblings. There were days when the two of us would sit on the couch watching MTV and complain about how much it had changed. There were days when it almost felt like David and I were still kids ourselves, sitting around and teasing each other like we always had, still best friends. And then there were days when it felt like we didn't know each other at all.

It was one of those days that I sat on the couch, watching him in interest. He'd eventually taken my advice about his appearance and had changed his hair, cut it and colored it back to his natural dirty blonde. Even though he was still physically eighteen, he looked so much older to me that way with the clothing and haircut of a thirty year old man. I watched him as he prepared dinner with Lily and John in the kitchen and it occurred to me that the very thing I'd accused him of all those years ago had turned out to be true. He _had_ become just like Max.

But it didn't bother me. The way in which he had become like Max was all that was actually good about that monster. David had a house, he had a dog, he had the kids and now he had a Matriarch. He had everything Max had been after for so long but was never able to achieve.

I thought back on that night when I had first found David in the cavern after Max's death. I had been hoping that things had come around full circle. In my mind, that meant David killing Max and because he hadn't, I didn't think things had come full circle at all. Only now was I realizing that it actually had.

It just wasn't in the way I expected.


End file.
